African Games: Tennis players post dismal shows at Pan African Games

Kenya team posted dismal shows in tennis at the 12th African Games in Rabat and Casablanca in Morocco yesterday.

In men and women table tennis’ singles, doubles and mixed doubles, Kenyan players bowed out in the preliminaries.

North and West Africans produced impressive results in table tennis as they advanced to the knockout stages where they won a number of medals. There are a few knockout matches today and tomorrow.

In men’s singles, Kenya won one match and lost three in Pool A to bow out of competition. They beat Eritrea 3-1 before losing in straight sets to Egypt and Morocco and then lost 1-3 to Madagascar.

In women’s singles, Kenya lost their matches by straight sets to Egypt, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to exit the championships.

In mixed doubles, Kenya beat South Africa 3-0 but lost the remaining four matches by straight sets against Nigeria, DRC, Ethiopia and Egypt.

In men’s doubles, Kenya’s team of Wandera and Mutua lost 3-1 to the Algerian team of Bouriah Labi and A Chaichi before losing 0-3 to Mauritius’ team of Ali Barool and Chan Yok. Kenya fielded the duo of Ko Kojal and Pema Zaki against Mauritius.

Algeria won gold in men’s doubles after seeing off Egypt 3-2 in the finals. In women doubles, Nigeria won gold and silver medals after their two teams reached the finals with Nigeria A edging out Nigeria B 3-2.

En route to finals, Nigeria A defeated Algeria 3-2 while Nigeria B humbled Egypt by a similar margin. Kenya lost 0-3 and 1-3 to Nigeria and DRC respectively.

In women singles, Ethiopia’s Dejene Yornados Ngidie dismissed Akeel Pamela Glory of Kenya 4-2 in the first match.

In the second match, Ugandan Amina Lukooya silenced Kenya’s Lydiah Cherubet 4-0. But Cherubet made a gallant comeback to beat Fesanaye Mengilista of Ethiopia 4-0 in the second match as Nigeria’s Edem Offiong defeated Kenyan girl Lisa Nasimiyu 4-0.

In men’s singles, Senegalese Gueye Mohammed thrashed Laban Msafiri of Kenya, Manuel Domingos of Angola hit Zaki Mughal of Kenya 4-0 as Josiah Wandera fell to Said Hamidou of Morocco by a similar margin.